Dedicated anode port required on tank

We've been on well water without odor issues for over 50 years. About a year ago, we began getting a sulfur odor from the hot water. Installed an aluminum/zinc anode rod which worked for a couple months but the smell came back. Treated the hot water tank with hydrogen peroxide several times but the smell continued to return. Purchased and installed the Corro-Protec powered anode and the smell was gone the next day. Installation was quite simple, and the instructions were complete and easy to follow. Very happy with this purchase and the effectiveness of the product. And, I really like that the green indicator light tells you that everything's working.

After a random video on yt about water heaters, I decide to check my own. Yeah, I needed a new one. After searching for a regular anode rod, I came upon a video with the corro-protec. I researched more and more about it and I was sold. I didn’t see any real negatives about it and purchased it the same day. Installation was easy, just follow directions and it should be no problem. I think many people don’t know what an anode rod is and located inside the water heater. I didn’t. I know it needs to be flushed once in a while. I did have to change the thermocouple which died in in the middle of winter. The price is high compared to a normal anode rod but in my opinion worth it. The 20 year warranty is awesome. The thought of possibly of not changing it in 20 years is a bonus. I’ve heard customer service is good also. And to keep my water for a bit longer is good too. All in all this device uses simple science to combat corrosion and smell in a water heaters. It is very useful to a home product which is taken for granted and hardly even thought of. This is an excellent product and should be a good replacement for older water heaters and even newer ones without the worry of changing the original one every 5 to 6 years. I’ve heard people needed to change the replacement earlier. Depends on water conditions and where the water comes from I guess. Okay, that’s it. Highly recommended!

Fast shipping. Easy to install. Took the smell out of the water within 24 hours. very little sediment. Works well. Highly recommend for people with water wells.

The odor in the hot water (on a well) started showing up this year on a 6 year old water heater. It's been a month since installed and the odor from the hot water hasn't returned. It was easy to install. I used a 1 1/16 socket with impact to remove the old one. The new rode will take a 1 3/16 socket, but if you don't have one and since the rod's head sticks up from the heater you can probably use a cresson or pipe wrench to put it in. My old anode rod was 6 years old, and still had plenty of metal left on it, however it was corroded a lot, so my old rode was probably not working anymore. A new normal rode might have also corrected the problem, but I chose to use a powered one, so will see if it holds up long term.

Had sulfurous odors in my hot water for several months and was looking for a replacement anode rod when I came across this item by chance. I had never heard of this method before but it sounded like a good idea so I looked into it. Turns out it has been used for years for corrosion protection of steel in the maritime and pipeline industries and has proven to be effective. It has hardly been used at all for domestic hot water tanks probably because it would increase the price by a hundred bucks or so. Plus, plumbers probably hate it since it should last the life of the tank as opposed to anode rod replacement every few years which the average do it yourselfer may not want to tackle. It works using a method called ICCP or impressed current cathode protection. The anode rod made of aluminum or magnesium is standard on almost all hot water tanks and serves to protect the steel tank from the natural corrosion or oxidation of steel in contact with water and oxygen. This happens even in glass lined tanks and with good quality water. The steel (mostly iron) does not naturally have uniform properties at the surface and in contact with water but instead has areas, called anodes, where corrosion (oxidation) takes place when iron atoms lose electrons turning the atoms into iron ions. The electrons remain in the metal but the ions can leave the surface and go into the electrolyte (water). The electrons travel through metal to a different area, or cathode, where they react at the surface with ions to complete an electro-chemical circuit. The important point is that corrosion will not take place if the iron does not lose electrons. The anode rod, say magnesium, does this by providing a surfeit of electrons into the tank iron since the rod and tank are physically and electrically connected. In effect, the magnesium rod is such an effective anode that it makes the entire tank metal a cathode. The result is all oxidation takes place at the magnesium (anode) and none at the tank (cathode). Thus, the magnesium is consumed and has to be replaced periodically and so is called sacrificial by saving the tank. Also, naturally occurring sulfates and sulfur bacteria in well water can react at the magnesium anode and produce hydrogen sulfide gas (bad odor). For the ICCP method, the needed electrons are provided by an external power supply and the anode is an inert material that does not corrode. The electro-chemical path is from power supply negative terminal, to tank (iron), to electrolyte (water), to anode, and back to power supply plus terminal. Note conduction is not by free electrons through the electrolyte but by ionic conduction and thus varies with the ion species and concentration in the water. This is why, for a given current, the voltage at the anode has a wide operating range over different systems. After considering all of this I decided to purchase the Corro-Protec and I'm glad I did. I received it in two days, it was well packaged, and it looked and felt high quality. I removed the magnesium rod which was uniformly pitted and covered with a slimy white material I take to be a form of magnesium oxide. I flushed the tank with plain water until it ran clear and installed the Corr-Protec. I have not had the slightest hot water odor since, at about one month. The Corr-Protec power supply is more than a transformer and rectifier; it also has circuitry that senses output current and holds it constant over a voltage range of 0 to 22 volts. Most power supplies operate at a constant voltage with a variable current dependent on load. In my case, for a 40-80 gallon tank, current is preset for 15 milliamps and the voltage varies between 3.5 and 4.5 volts over several days depending on ionic properties of the water. After a regeneration of my water softener (ion exchange type), the voltage decreases by about 0.3 volts for a day or so presumably due to some residual brine in the softener plumbing. 3/22/2024 update, After nearly four years of constant use, I have not once detected any odors from the hot water and I have not had any problems. So I am 100 percent satisfied with this product.

Like the idea of this product. I was about 3.5 years in on my current 50 gallon water heater and figured I was approaching the time for a replacement given the mineral content of our town's water. Decided to try Corro-Protec versus another standard anode rod as I did not want to have to revisit this again (and again and maybe even again); this system allegedly will last for 20 years (or more). I don't have the "rotten egg smell" to contend with, so cannot speak to it's effectiveness on that front, but there are other advertised benefits, like reduced sediment accumulation and a reduction in lime scale, which I found appealing despite the lofty price tag. Regarding installation, the process was pretty straightforward. Checkout YouTube for some good step by step guides. One piece of advice would be to use/borrow an impact wrench versus using a socket wrench (and cheater/breaker bar); this made taking the old anode rod out pretty simple. [Do recommend finding a deep socket as there is a metal tab that juts out of the top of the Corro-Protec, which is where the AC adapter hooks on. I had a shallow socket and did end up bending the tab, but was able to reposition it (thankfully) without issue.] My only criticisms at this stage would be the exclusion of teflon tape in the kit (like c'mon... it's $150+ and can't spare a few feet of tape?) and, out of the box, the rod was a bit bent to one side. It was easily repositioned by hand, but the box was in perfect condition, so not sure how this happened to the product. Also, despite the company's highly (self)touted warranty, I'm not overly impressed with the terms. The consumer is still inheriting a lot of risk and needs to have blind faith in the product doing what it's billed to do. If your water heater corrodes and gives out with this anode installed, they will not cover anything. Corro-Protec only covers the anode/power supply. Certainly, if other components of the water heater fail, I wouldn't expect that to be covered, but even if the anode fails in it's primary purpose and the tank does corrode, the company still claims no responsibility. Additionally, full reimbursement is only offered for the first 5 years, not 20. After the 5th year, coverage decreases 5% each year. (e.g. at year 20, you'd only have 25% coverage) Lastly, on a related note, there are anecdotal accounts of water heater manufacturers not honoring their warranties when this unit is installed. This might vary from company to company, but better to assume your tank warranty is void if you use this product. (It better work!) All that aside, I'm still focusing on the positive. I'll be interested to see if I notice any changes to the water heater performance or water quality, but suspect that they will be subtle. Will update this review accordingly. 3/27/24 UPDATE: I definitely noticed a lot less lime scale in the dishwasher almost immediately. This effect has persisted in the 5 weeks since installation. So far, everything still seems to be working well and the bright green light on the power supply is on. Nice product! 8/30/24 UPDATE: All is still well. Scale levels still seem to be reduced. Looks like a good product!

My company installs hundreds of water heaters annually. Any customer that calls in for anode rods urged to upgrade to this product. It does not need to be changed for the rest of the water heaters life. No cleaning, totally reliable. O far, it ha a 100%success rate on sulfur smell iues. No noise, easy to power.

If you are looking at this product, then you have smelly hot water. Period. You've searched the internet and found lots of information, but you are unsure how much of it applies to your own situation due to the large numbers of variables involved. Plus, for whatever reason, you are reluctant to call in a professional. Yep, been there, done that, got the t-shirt. My scenario: my sister-in-law called last summer, asking for help with the water heater at her cottage. The cottage is actually a very small, two-bedroom year-round home, probably a bit over a hundred years old. And I should add that her cottage is about 75 miles away from where I live which means the entire process took awhile. The existing water heater had a slight leak. This sucker is certainly old enough to vote, might even be older. No problem. I headed to my local wholesaler and picked up a shiny new Rheem for her. Spent the better part of a day pulling out the old heater, re-working the wiring and the piping a bit and putting in the new one. Filled the heater, turned the power on, cleaned the pipe scuz out of the faucet strainers and called it good. And in retrospect here is where I made a mistake. Took the old heater to a scrapyard and got around $4.00 for it. What I should have done was removed the anode rod from the old unit. I suspect there wasn't one in there at all, but I'll never know. A few weeks later she mentioned her water smelled. Nuts. More background: I have a pole barn with one of those little point-of-service water heaters for the sink. Almost right from the start, I had smelly water out there, but since I was only using the hot water for cleaning, I ignored it. Not that it matters, but the heater is on a timer and it is only on a very few hours a week. But eventually I had enough and pulled it out. The anode rod was almost completely consumed. Ordered another from good ol' Amazon. When it arrived, I thoroughly cleaned out the inside of it with alcohol, put the new rod in and re-connected it. Within days the hot water stunk again. Since this is a family oriented site, let's just say I said "oh drat." Back to the internet. There is mention of aluminum used as an anode, but lots of cautions due to ingestion of the material. I wasn't worried about that since I only use that hot water for cleaning and not cooking. But there are no aluminum rods available for my little heater due to it being a somewhat specialized product. Being the somewhat creative guy I am, I picked up a 1/2" diameter length of aluminum rod from the hardware store, drilled and tapped it for 8-32, stuck it in the heater and ALL water problems have disappeared. Yay me. Back to the sister-in-law's cottage. I read a whole bunch of stuff regarding aluminum vs. magnesium vs. powered-anodes vs. no anode at all. I just did not feel qualified enough to make a decision for her. She wanted to stay away from the aluminum ones as she would be using the hot water for cooking. I started pricing the powered rods and we were looking at $250 to $350. I really hate spending other people's money for them if not absolutely necessary. So I suggested she call a local plumber who may have more experience with the water in her area. Did I mention this is well water? I should have. Anyway, he gave her the usual song-and-dance about how busy he was, but offered to remove the existing rod altogether. He couldn't do it, but he would send his son out. Well, this was almost a disaster. The son apparently spent 3 hours and was unable to remove the rod. No idea why. Remember I'm 75 miles away. OK, so much for that idea. She tried calling a professional and it didn't work. So now it is back to me. By this time, winter has arrived in the mitten-shaped peninsula of Michigan and the cottage was shut down for the duration. Earlier this year I did another search for the problem and this time found the Corro-Protec rod for a much more reasonable price. Asked the sister-in-law if she was willing to try it and she agreed. Ordered the kit and about a month ago went out to install it. I came loaded for bear remembering the son of the trained professional couldn't budge the existing rod. I drained the heater completely, which wasn't necessary for this job, but seems the recommendation now is to put water heaters in shallow pans. So drained and disconnected the heater and moved it out of the way. Set the pan in place, wrestled the heater into it and reconnected. Then tried extracting the existing rod. I have to explain I do have a 3/4" drive socket wrench set with a breaker bar that is a full 39" long, but no way did I need that much reefing force to bust it loose. It came right out, no problem whatsoever. I poured in 4 quarts of peroxide to disinfect the heater, then screwed the new rod in. Refilled the heater, turned it on, purged the lines and called it good. Sister-in-law called last weekend to report she was opening up the cottage and had virtually no water pressure, either hot or cold. Argh! I should have cleaned the faucet strainers. Yesterday I went over there and sure enough the strainers were clogged with pipe scuz. Cleaned them out and all is well. And finally, here is the point: after about a month of sitting there, I am relieved to tell you there are NO odors in the water. I love the product. Of course, we have no way of telling how long the product will last at this point, so stay tuned should something come up in the future. Will this product solve your particular problem? No idea. But it is a more reasonably priced alternative that might be worth exploring.

We spent a lot of time and money to get rid of the rotten egg smell at our new cottage. I was so mad and felt so sick everytime the water was used, I had to leave! We had replaced the anode in the new hot water tank, we attached an inline filter, we tried a filter at the kitchen tap, dropped a chlorine tablet into the tank and when that didn't work we tried pouring a bottle of hydrogen peroxide but the smell was still bad! We never thought we'd fix this until we decided on the corro anode! It just worked! No smell!!! NONE! It was easy to put in, it took away the extreme odour that came from the hot water almost immediately. We are ecstatic, over the moon! I almost never went back to the cottage until the Corro-Protec. AMAZING PRODUCT!

This product is an incredible piece of engineering!! My well water is quite nasty with iron being high along with some iron bacteria also some calcium. When I used the standard sacrificial aluminum anode rod that is standard in each hot water tank to protect your heating elements, they get eaten away badly, and had to be replaced every year!! ! Every year I drained my hot water tank to flush and clean, it has been a nightmare !! The anode rode had so much buildup on it, I could barely pull it out of the tank . The worst part is the hours of time it took to remove all the accumulation of chunks of calcium and other alien looking crud in the bottom of the tank. A very tricky job with a shop vacuum and pressure washer !!! Too much to explain, but a very effective method . Albeit, a very labour intensive and time consuming job. I hated the thought of doing it each year because I knew what I was in for. NOT ANYMORE!!! Today was the “acid test” to see if this Corro-Protec electric anode rod stood up to the claims. Well did it stand up !! Nothing in that tank other than a bit of rust residue on the bottom of the tank which was easily washed away. My hot water tank job took me less than an hour after the water had drained out compared to the regular 5-6 hours before!!! This corro-Protec is nothing short of amazing from my experience. If you go through the same BS I do with tough well water, you definitely will not regret buying this product. I’d give the product 10 stars if I could.

I tried everything under the sun to get rid of the foul rotten eggs smell in my hot water: filters with UV lamps, flushing the tank, sterilized it, increase temperature, aluminum anode, nothing worked more than a few days. Installed this product, was very easy ( you will need an impact gun with the proper socket of 1 1/16 for the original anode and 1 3/16 to install this product), but it worked, the very first day. Been enjoying smell free water for a week now and feel totally satisfied with this anode. Stop wasting your time with useless tricks from the web, if your well water has sulfur smell, install one of these on any brand new water heater and call it a day.

Muy especial y deseo que cumpla lo que tiene de garantía. Ya que es difícil que te contesten para registrar tu producto

I thought I left a review on this months ago. We had been dealing with the same rotton egg smell from our hot water tank. Our contractor told us we needed to replace the tank, so we did. Smell went away for a month or so and came back as bad as ever. I asked him about powered anodes and he poo-pooed it. Drained it a few times and flushed it with bleach, all to no avail. People weren't coming up to our cottage because of the smell. My kids wouldn't shower at the cottage because of it, limiting our stay durations. Finally decided to give this a shot. The difference was noticeable within several hours. By the next weekend, the smell was entirely gone. Now, nearly a year later, everything still smells fine. Family who visit every now and then have commented on how much better it is. I wish I had bought this years ago - I would have saved money and enjoyed the cottage more. Installation was easy, and I am not particularly handy. I was a little worried about drilling a hole for the grounding screw, but I shouldn't have. If your hot water smells bad, this is what you need. Don't waste any time. If I could give 6 stars, I would. One of my best purchases, ever.